March 10, 2009

Next Up: Action Figures?

"Some books have an opening line that catches your attention. A few rare one have openers that grab you, shake you a bit, and compel you to keep turning pages until the last. Such is the case with Barry Eisler's first stand-alone thriller Fault Line. We read, "The last thing Richard Hilzoy thought before the bullet entered his brain was, Things are really looking up.""

Then there's some plot summary, which includes this:

"But then there is Hilzoy who was supposed to keep an appointment with Alex regarding a patent application for Obsidian, "the world's most advanced encryption algorithm, destined to render all other network security software obsolete". ....Hilzoy is a once-in-a-lifetime ticket" for Alex. Then suddenly he is dead, supposedly due to a drug deal. Alex believes none of that."

"Richard Hilzoy" would be one thing. But Richard Hilzoy in connection with Obsidian? Hmm.

Luckily, there's no need to speculate, since Random House has this interview with Eisler:

"I couldn’t help noticing that certain peripheral characters in Fault Line bear the names of well-known bloggers. Were you tipping your hat to their work?

You caught me."

Yikes. I think I'm going to have to read the book. One question, though: why does R. Hilzoy have to be a guy?

Because men are the default gender. Because if the first sentence of the book had been "The last thing Rachel Hilzoy thought before the bullet entered her brain was, Things are really looking up." - the question assumed raised to be answered would have been "Why is a woman being killed?" rather than "Why is R. Hilzoy being killed?"

Is Alex male or female? My guess is Alex is male, and that the writer believes this divests Alex's determination to figure out who killed R. Hilzoy, and why, of sexual subtext - which subtext would be presumed to exist if R. Hilzoy and Alex Pharyngula were of different genders. If both were female, the thriller might well be presumed to be a feminist thriller...

Hilzoy is a once-in-a-lifetime ticket" for Alex. Then suddenly he is dead, supposedly due to a drug deal. Alex believes none of that."

Fwiw, I don't think it was a publicity thing. At least, if it was, I would have expected someone to email us about this. No one did. I was just doing a blog search to see whether anyone had written about my story from last night, and this popped up.

KCinDC, you're right that I've named characters after some of my favorite bloggers in hopes of creating some buzz for the book; but more importantly, I'm hoping to create buzz for the blogs. I'm a pretty political guy, and if there's something I can do to expose a few more people to Hilzoy, Glenn Greenwald, Scott Horton, and others I admire, I'm delighted to do it. Also, naming characters after people I've learned from is just a way for me to say thanks (I also always call these folks out in the acknowledgements).

Aimai, as for the fictional Hilzoy being murdered, this is just a novel! I write about assassins and conspiracies and lots of characters get killed in my books, even characters named after people I like and admire. This was so much the case in my previous book, Requiem for an Assassin, that I felt it sensible to include the following disclaimer in the acknowledgements:

"Three men I count myself privileged to know have characters named after them in this book: Wim Demeere, Frank “Pancho” Garza, and Montie Guthrie. In addition to their names, the characters share some positive characteristics with their real-world namesakes. But the characters also have certain… negative characteristics, which are entirely fictional and have nothing to do with these gentlemen as I know them. I say this because I wouldn’t want anyone to mistakenly conclude that I hold Wim, Pancho, or Montie – friends and teachers all – in anything other than the highest regard. Plus, they might beat me up or shoot me if I didn’t provide a disclaimer. Special thanks to Montie, for always taking my calls about firearms tools and tactics, and for helpful comments on the manuscript. I hope it goes without saying that any firearms mistakes in the manuscript are entirely Montie’s fault."

Tuckerization! I guess this means it won't now be known as Hilzoyization. Well, I tried...

Jesurgislac, that's pretty much it. If a woman is killed in the opening chapter, it suggests a different type of story. Also, I conceived of the character before I named him.

And you bet Hilzoy gets a free copy! Everyone I name in the acknowledgments always does. Hilzoy, if you'd like, shoot me an email at nibanmei at mac.com and let me know where to send it. And hey, no pretending to be Hilzoy, anyone...

Thanks again for the kind mention -- I'm going to be grinning all day.

Congratulations. You have joined the ranks of "revenge by fictional character" along with the legendary Henry Carr.

Henry Carr was in Zurich during WWI, and came in contact with James Joyce. Joyce and Carr had a rather petty contretemps over a role Carr played in an amateur theatrical production Carr was in. (Details available around the web, but immortalized by Tom Stoppard in the play TRAVESTIES).

Joyce was so POed at Carr that he made him a drunken solider in the "Circe" episode of ULYSSES. You can look it up.

Mr. Arthur, thanks for the kind words, and glad you've been enjoying the books.

Zmulls, I have to beg to differ. As I mention above, this is hardly a case of revenge; in fact, it's the opposite, and I'd be sad if it were misinterpreted otherwise. Not just because I wouldn't want anyone to think I hold Hilzoy in other than high regard, but also because I wouldn't want anyone to think I was so petty that I took out my frustrations by dissing people in my fiction. For example:

I'm constantly surprised at how widespread fannish memes have become in the 21st century.

"There's actually a word for this? Who knew? (besides gwangung)"

Me, since approximately 1971. Bob Tucker. Hung out and smmooooothed with him many times. He died shortly after his 90th birthday party.

I could tell you reams about the Tucker Hotel, natural inseminations performed cards, Wilson Tucker's novels, many subsequent adoptions of Tuckerizing, how Terry Carr got fired from Ace Books by Don Wollheim for allowing tuckerizing, and so on and so forth.

Awesome. I cant wait to read barry's newest book to see this. thats great that he tips his hat to others he has profound gratitude for. I need to have an eisler character or corporation in my book to pay honor to him. So proud of his career and his newest work. I guess i have a new blog to follow and stay current with.

You're at least a couple orders of magnitude more skilled than anyone at S,N, hilzoy. Don't confuse fleeting amusement for lasting insight. You've got the latter; the crowd at SN are just taking amusing potshots.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and for the information about Tuckerization and redshirting... this is great stuff! As Hank can attest, it can be a bit problematic to be my friend or someone I admire and wind up in one of my books. Not that many characters make it all the way through -- through no fault of mine, of course.

The Voice of Moderation: I get a lot of pleasure from peppering my stories with inside jokes (ask my friends from NoNonsenseSelfDefense.com). Weaving the Voice of Moderation into a story in a way that wouldn't distract people not in on the joke would be a challenge... but you've all given me such a warm welcome I feel encouraged to try in the book I'm working on now. Needless to say, no kittens will be hurt, either actually or fictionally, in this production.

Anarch, that's such an extreme example that I was going to suggest it needs its own moniker... but of course, the good people here were way ahead of me on that. Attach dog, indeed! FWIW, pretty much the worst people can expect if I Tuckerize them is a creatively carried out fictional death.

Jesurgislac and Ral, always good to meet fellow Eliot fans.

Publius, thank you.

Josh, the title wasn't a reference to Chris Clarke's blog (at least not a conscious one).

If you all don't mind my saying, what makes OW such a terrific blog isn't just the quality of the posts, but also the quality of the comments. I hope I'll get to meet a few of you on the road this month -- many thanks again.

If you all don't mind my saying, what makes OW such a terrific blog isn't just the quality of the posts, but also the quality of the comments. I hope I'll get to meet a few of you on the road this month -- many thanks again.

Here, here. But especially the posts. The foreign policy related posts by that what's his name.

I'm afraid I looked at the prefix and something went 'ding'. Hilzoy likes SF and should know about The Naked Sun and The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov. Those are whodunnits featuring a unique protaganist, R. Daneel Olivaw - where R is for Robot.Guess we'll see.

Both. I can't tell from this if you do or don't know what smoooothing is.

For those who don't know (and likely don't care), Bob Tucker particularly liked his Beam's Choice, and for decades enjoyed the custom of passing around a bottle to fill everyone's cup, at which point everyone would raise their non-drinking hand, and then, downing their drink, swoosh their non-drinking hand down and up again in a semi-circle, while exclaiming "Smmoooooth!"

I think fans probably gave it a name because it is just so darn common in our community. A friend named Warren Norwood named a planet after my wife and myself in one of his trilogies. It only got hit by 7 nukes in the war, which I suppose was better than some got. Wm. Mark Simmons made us characters in a series of his. Writers with ties to fan groups have named characters in a series after their fellow club members. It's a strong tradition.